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Absecon Light Station

     One of the most frequently visited light stations during its active days was the lighthouse at Absecon in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Although first authorized in 1837, the Absecon light was not completed and lighted until January 15, 1857. Built under the supervision of Lt. George G. Meade, the brick tower, which was erected on a stone foundation resting on a wood platform, rose 150 feet into the air. In keeping with its role as a primary seacoast light, the board installed a firstorder lens on the tower. Its purpose was to guide ships past Absecon and Brigantine Shoals. The wrecks along that section of the coast had been "frequent and appalling," but in the first ten months of the light's service not a single wreck was reported. To increase its effectiveness as a daymark, the board in 1872 had the tower painted white with a wide red band about its middle. The board changed this marking in 1898 to an orange tower with a black middle band.
The Lighthouse Bureau discontinued the light in July, 1933; an electric beacon on the Steel Pier had replaced it. Although the station's other buildings disappeared in subsequent years, the tower remained standing. In 1948, the U. S. Coast Guard gave the tower to the city, which in time restored it as a historic structure. Today the old tower is the centerpiece of a city park.

Updated December 10, 2000 | © 1999, 2000, beachcomber.com